Trams, Tiles and Treats

Our travels have brought us to Lisbon, Portugal! We had a trip planned here in 2020 and opted instead of a refund to receive vouchers for future travel and here we are. We had watched the Netflix show, Somebody Feed Phil, multiple times before this visit to get the inside scoop on all things Lisbon, especially the food. 

Lisbon is known for many things, the devastating earthquake of 1755, the grave of explorer Vasco De Gama, its hills and cobblestone streets, the tiles (azulejos) found throughout the city, its famous Tram 28 and of course, pastel de nata, its delicious flaky pastry filled with custard, served warm and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

 

There are many bakeries throughout Lisbon that sell Pastéis de Nata: Manteigaria, Fábrica da Nata and Pastéis de Belém. We made it our mission in the few short days we were in Lisbon to try all three (at least one). We even tried some smaller mom and pop bakeries with the delicious treat, but for us, it was unanimous the Pastéis de Belém was the winner. 

Eating Manteigaria - 2nd place in our book

 

 

Pastéis de Belém - the BEST!

 

Of course Pasteis is not the only treat that we found in Lisbon, some better than others and some geared only for the grown-ups. One of the non-fan favorites was their version of cod cakes: Pastel de Bacalhau. We bought a few thinking that they were similar to American cod/crab cakes, but they were so fishy and definitely not to our taste.

 

Not loving the Pastel de Bacalhau

Baba and I also tried Lisbon's signature drink, a sour cherry liquor called Ginjinha. Ginjinha bars sell shots for one euro and of course bigger bottles to take home (which we did). 

Cheers to Ginjinha

 

We learned that there is a sizeable Italian community in Lisbon and therefore both the pizza and gelato establishments are worth a visit. One that was featured in Somebody Feed Phil was Nanarella. Unfortunately, we didn't make it there, but we are determined to, whenever we go back to the city.  

One of many scoops of gelato for these three

Walking through the streets of Lisbon can be very deceiving. I often use Google Maps to help us get directions from one place to another, but the directions don't usually say how steep of a hill we are going to be climbing to get to our desired! An alternative to walking is taking a tram, specifically the famous Tram 28. Lucky for us the first stop was near our Airbnb because the key to riding this tram is getting one of its 10 coveted seats.